If you’re prepared to overlook the fires (Tesla), crashes (driverless cars) and explosions (SpaceX), the idea of tech billionaire Elon Musk, or rather one of his companies, inserting a wireless computer chip into your brain probably sounds quite exciting. One of Neuralink’s first products will apparently be called “Telepathy” and will enable people to control smartphones and computers “just by thinking”.
Presumably, this would mean you could talk to someone anywhere on the planet with little more than a casual thought. Imagine the possibilities! Our future as part-human, part-cyborg creatures seems assured.
The serious side of all this is that the technology can be used to enable paralysed people to walk again and to provide potential cures for other conditions. However, as always, the real money will be made in its mass applications.
Suddenly, it seems we’re on course to become the baddies in Dr Who, although the sense of menace may be somewhat undermined as we accidentally buy things we can’t afford, get into arguments with our sentient fridge-freezer, and think impure thoughts at just the wrong moment…
